Chapter 109: Horse Thieves in Action
Chapter 108 – Horse Thieves in Action
“It seems like you’re determined to attack the Hydra family’s territory.” Harvey wasn’t a fool and guessed Buddy’s thoughts from his reaction, in fact this was the only way they could do other than leaving in the dust.
There were quite a number of noble children similar to them who came to the Northlands, and those people were not incapable of gathering so many people, mainly because it was easy to gather but hard to feed, and the slightest mishap would backfire on them.
This was mainly because the manpower they brought from the empire was limited, and most of the time they needed to directly recruit people in the Northlands.
The problem was that they couldn’t recruit serious people, so they could only recruit bandits and horse thieves, who were not easy to get along with, and if they weren’t careful, they would lose both their money and their lives.
The three of them were different and more ambitious, so they used up all the wealth they brought from their family, purchased a batch of equipment through their family’s connections, and armed hundreds of horse thieves, which led to the successful capture of Mara Town.
But they weren’t much happier afterward, because Viscount Mara’s decisiveness made them lose out on the Seal of Nobility, and without the Seal of Nobility that represented orthodoxy, even if they occupied Mara Town, their status would still be that of horse thieves, not nobles.
This immediately disrupted their plans, resulting in the inability to use this as a bargaining chip in exchange for further support from the family.
To make matters worse, there was a demon centaur roaming around, and they had run into each other earlier when they were chasing the Viscount of Mara.
At that time, Buddy made the decision to take the initiative to launch an attack, and after a fight, not only did a lot of people die, but also Viscount Mara took advantage of the chaos to run away.
If not for the fact that they occupied the town of Mara, it is considered to have fulfilled the promise to those nomadic tribes, just dying so many people will not be a good explanation.
No one is a fool, those nomadic tribes are willing to work under them as horse thieves, purely for the sake of interests, if they can not bring benefits, those people do not mind killing them to change the individual as the leader, anyway, the benefits have already arrived.
Therefore, Buddy needs to find another target for these people, with one victory after another to build up their own prestige, so that they can completely control these horse thieves, and the only one nearby that meets this condition is the HYDRA family’s territory, and the others are either too small, no oil, or the distance is too far away.
“You guessed right, but although it’s risky, we have no choice.” Buddy said, still flatly, as he took his cleaned saber back into its scabbard and laid it flat in his lap, leaning his body back.
Their origins had already determined the upper limit of what they could achieve in the future, and if they wanted to break this invisible limit they had to jump out of the circle, so they gambled everything to come to the Northlands.
But if they can’t make achievements, don’t think the family will continue to give them resources, so even if there is a huge risk, they still can’t retreat, unless they are willing to be a real horse thief or be a farmer, obviously they are not willing.
Harvey added a few pieces of wood to the fireplace and stretched out his hand to roast the fire, at the same time, he brought his boots, which were almost penetrated by snow, close to the flame, and after a moment of contemplation, he spoke.
“The Hydra family is growing too fast, obviously there is someone behind it, have you considered this point?”
“Have you forgotten, we have no choice.” Buddy tapped his saber with his fingers and said in an aggravated tone, while both eyes stared at Harvey dead on.
Compared to the other silent collaborator, Harvey had the best mind, but a good mind meant a lot of thoughts, if he wasn’t tapped from time to time, who knew what he would do.
Harvey was silent, but in his heart he knew that the only person who didn’t have a choice was actually Buddy, not him.
Buddy comes from the best family and has the strongest strength, so he occupies a leading position among the three, and even if he seizes Viscount Mara’s Seal of Nobility, he will be the only holder.
Therefore when Viscount Mara took advantage of the chaos to escape, Harvey even had a feeling of relief in his heart.
No one didn’t want to rise to the top, even if they were small, they would still have to cast their lot with the strong, such as the Hydra family. Compared to the three of them, this boat may turn over at any time, the Hydra family undoubtedly has more strength and potential, is a good object of defection.
The only problem is that Buddy is not willing to do so, he has a betting agreement with the family, the higher the achievement in the Northland, the more support he will get, if he can become the Count of the Northland, the family is even willing to recognize his identity as a side branch, at that time, he will gain a lot of contacts and political capital, and have the opportunity to cross the limit of the Northland nobles to join the empire’s circle of power and nobility.
Therefore, Buddy did not allow anyone to give up or fail, so Harvey did not refute his words because he did not want to die in an unexplained manner.
Coming to the Northlands, he had seen too many people die from backstabbing, he didn’t want to be the next unlucky one, so he pulled away from the topic.
“I’ve been to the Hydra family’s territory once before winter, the population is above a thousand, the number of soldiers is close to three hundred, including dozens of cavalry, all of them are well-trained professional soldiers, wanting to fight it down won’t be that easy.” Harvey couldn’t help but show an envious expression, in fact not only him, even Buddy did the same.
A thousand population definitely couldn’t support three hundred soldiers, so to say that there was no support behind the Hydra family, they definitely didn’t believe it,
However, this is normal, in the empire’s circle, there are not a few powerful people who can see the potential of the Northlands, only the high level can’t see it, the low level can’t take it into account, and only the low level has the ability to intervene.
The problem is, look at the scale of development of Hydra family, the other party must have invested a lot of resources, they really want to fight?
At this time even Buddy began to hesitate, after all, really fight, that is to the other side to the death of the offense, but not to fight on behalf of his ambitions his future all come to an end.
“It’s not easy to fight, not to mention that those herders are very greedy, just one Mara town can’t satisfy their appetite.” Buddy said to Harvey with a sarcastic smile.
Harvey nodded, he had the most dealings with those nomadic tribes on weekdays and could feel those guys’ greedy nature the most.
“When will we leave?” Harvey asked knowing that it definitely wasn’t after the beginning of spring, as the food in Mara Town wouldn’t last until then.
“Three days from now.” Buddy said after looking down and counting the days.
The winter in the Northlands was very cold, but the coldest time had already passed, so if they were prepared, they might not be unable to fight.
“Good, I’ll go slaughter the livestock in preparation.” Harvey nodded and after roasting his hands again, he decisively pushed the door to leave.
Livestock was life to the herders, wanting to slaughter those that would live through the winter could not be done without taking out a sufficient price, so Buddy stepped in and summoned the herders.
“The Hydra family’s territory has endless food, warm and cozy houses, and every family has an iron pot, as long as we fight it down, where everything is ours!” Buddy’s words were simple and direct, and it was also easier to arouse the greed within these herders.
If it was a separate nomadic tribe, they would not have the guts to do this.
A tribe of a hundred or so people, only one third of them can fight, and because of the lack of iron, causing them to only use wooden sticks as weapons, they simply can’t utilize the advantages of cavalry, and facing the lord who built up a wooden fortress, they can only look on and sigh.
But now the town of Mara gathered seven or eight nomadic tribes, enough to put together two or three hundred riders, plus the iron weapons provided by the three, their ambition began to expand.
(End of chapter)